The Littl' Bits (partially found Saban English dub of anime series; 1990)

The dub's localized title card.

Status: Partially Found

Cheerful Dwarves of the Forest: Belfy & Lillibit (森の陽気な小人たちベルフィーとリルビット) is a Japanese 1980 anime series by Tatsunoko Production (known for producing the original Speed Racer series and Hakushon Daimaō) that aired on TV Tokyo, alongside various affiliates of other networks in different cities, from January 7 to July 7, 1980. The series revolved around a community of dwarf-sized people (hence the name), primarily on two kids: A sweet, orphaned girl named Belfy who was under the care of the town's doctor Docklin, and Lillibit, a courageous boy who is determined to solve situations in the community.

In 1990, the series was acquired by Saban Entertainment to be dubbed in English under the name The Littl' Bits, which first aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on January 2, 1991. Despite Saban's license to the series expiring on February 12, 2000^[1], Disney otherwise retained the rights to the dub, having licensed the dub to Boulevard Entertaiment for a DVD release in PAL territories, and the dub being aired on Jetix Play.

Availability

By 2009, four episodes of the dub were considered "missing" by the fanbase: "Winter Strawberries", "The Baby Bears", "Looking at the Stars" and "Storm Baby". This would remain until August 6 of 2013, when the former was uploaded by bayster912 to YouTube, albeit with minor ghosting issues. The rest of the episodes still remain lost, but the new soundtrack, composed specifically for the dub by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban, still survive thanks to a South African airing of "The Baby Bears" on kykNET and Russian airings of the latter two on Jetix Play, as the Afrikaans and Russian dubs for the show used the Saban dub as base.